DOMESTIC ECONOMY, HYGIENE, DIETETICS. 



of the vegetable kingdom affords so much nu- 

 triment from a given space of ground as the 

 banana, and no other food is so peculiarly 

 adapted to support life in the tropics. It is 

 estimated that a quarter of an acre planted in 

 bananas will produce enough for a family of 

 five the year round. It grows in thick clus- 

 ters of 150 to 200 to the cluster. It is eaten 

 raw, either alone or cut in slices with sugar 

 and cream, or wine and orange juice. It is 

 also roasted, fried, or boiled, and is made 

 into fritters, preserves, and marmalades. It 

 is dried in the sun and preserved as figs ; meal 

 is extracted from it by pounding and made into 

 something resembling bread ; and the fer- 

 mented juice affords an excellent wine. With 

 us it is brought to the table as dessert, and 

 proves universally acceptable. The best kind, 

 when they can be procured fresh, are the 

 " lady fingers " as they are called. They are 

 found in our markets from March to October. 



EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE EATING. 



The consequences of uncontrolled indulgence 

 of the appetite manifest themselves variously. 

 The immediate result of over-eating is lethargy, 

 heaviness, and tendency to sleep. The effect 

 of persisting in the habit will depend upon 

 numerous circumstances. In a healthy sys- 

 tem, with good digestion and much active out- 

 of-door exercise, bad results may not follow 

 from the freest use of plain food. In other 

 conditions the burden may fall upon the over- 

 worked digestive organs, which are irritated by 

 the presence of the excess of food which they 

 cannot appropriate. If digestion be strong, an 

 excess of nutriment may be projected into the 

 blood, overloading the circulation. If food is 

 not expended in force, the natural alternative 

 is its accumulation in the system, increasing 

 the volume of muscle and tissue, and swelling 

 the deposit of fat. Degeneracy of the struct- 

 ures, mal-assimilation of nutritive material, 

 increased proneness to derangement and dis- 

 eased action, and various unhealthy conditions 

 may be induced by the habitual employment 

 of too much food. It is either transmuted into 

 fat and flesh, or into pain and disease. Yet it 

 is very common to charge upon quantity the 

 evils that flow from quality in diet. Injury 

 may spring from hearty indulgence in a rich, 

 concentrated, and various diet, which would 

 not flow from the most liberal use of plain and 

 simple food. "Dine upon one dish, and in 

 that consult your taste, ' ' is an excellent motto. 



EFFECTS OF INSUFFICIENT NU- 

 TRITION. 



The blood is the stock of material on hand, 

 from which the supplies of the constantly wast- 



ing system are withdrawn, and this stock is 

 but small. It contains, dissolved, only about 

 one eighth of the dry matter of the body, so 

 that the strength can be sustained only a very 

 short time without external supplies. Yet 

 when food is withheld, life holds its ground 

 against extensive changes. An animal does 

 not die of starvation till it has lost two fifths 

 of its weight and more than a third of its heat. 

 Yet, so important is the prompt and regular 

 ingestion of aliment, to keep the system up to 

 the par of its activity, that even transient in- 

 terruptions produce serious disturbance. As 

 the demand for nourishment is the prime 

 necessity of our being, taking precedence of 

 all other needs, if the supply be suspended, 

 the clamors of the system for food rise at once 

 above all other wants. Until hunger is ap- 

 peased, there is disquiet ; the mind traverses 

 with less than its usual freedom, the temper is 

 more easily started, and sleep fails to invigor- 

 ate as usual. There was shrewd practical 

 wisdom in the warning of Cardinal De Retz to 

 politicians, never to risk an important motion 

 before a popular assemblage, however proper 

 or wise it might be, just before dinner. Of 

 the effects of insufficient food, Moleshott speaks 

 as follows: "There is another instinct by 

 which the vigor of the mind is vanquished in 

 a more melancholy way. Hunger desolates 

 head and heart. Though the craving for nu- 

 triment may be lessened to a surprising degree 

 during mental exertion, there exists nothing 

 more hostile to the cheerfulness of an active, 

 thoughtful mind, than the deprivation of 

 liquid and solid food. To the starving man, 

 every pressure becomes an intolerable burden ; 

 for this reason, hunger has effected more revo- 

 lutions than {he ambition of disaffected sub- 

 jects. It is not, then, the dictate of cupiditv 

 or the claim of idleness which prompts the 

 belief in a natural human right to work and 

 food." 



DIET OF INFANCY. 



Nature prescribes the infant's diet in the 

 composition of its mother's milk ; but nature 

 is sometimes defeated in her intention, as the 

 mother's diet controls the milk secretion both 

 in quantity and quality. If her food be scanty, 

 or low and light, the infant will be imper- 

 fectly nourished. The lactic secretion requires 

 to contain its due proportion of casein, sugar, 

 oil, and phosphate of lime ; and to produce 

 these copiously, a varied nutritious diet of good 

 bread, meat, milk, eggs, and potatoes is re- 

 quired. The aliment which the mother fur- 

 nishes to her child is more richly nutritive than 

 that which she retains for her own nourish- 

 ment. She should avoid indigestible substances 



